Help With Gestalt Build

[Fuzzy_Juan]

Ok, starting a 3.5 campaign and doing gestalt for the first time. I was hoping some of ya'll might be able to help me out. It is a good campaign, Book of Exalted deeds is encouraged a bit.

I was thinking a melee build or a caster build...

for melee, I was kinda thinking of Paladin 5/pious templar 1/fist of Raziel 1/?? 3//Rogue 10 taking advantage of evasion and mettle along with good cha to boost saves. Might change to Palladin 4/fighter 4 to get specialization or more levels of fist or templar...or even cleric in there, though not sure what to do with that side. (don't have ToB so no swordplay for me).

For caster, I am guessing cleric 10//battle sorcerer 7/Abjurant champion 3 and taking the battle caster feat to keep medium armor an option...probably DMM goodness...

any tips?

[monty]

VoP Monk!
Except not. Don't do that.

"Melee build or caster build" narrows it down to...pretty much everything. It might help to know what the rest of your party looks like, so we can suggest something to fill any holes.

[CASTLEMIKE]

On the Cleric side what about Cloistered Cleric and 3 levels of Prestige Paladin for more skill points and a synergy with Battle Sorcerer (Divine Grace and only losing a single divine casting level instead of Abjurant Champion) :

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/cl...restigePaladin

Consider the Stalwart Battle Sorcerer for an extra +2 Hit points a level.

Edit: Recent gestalt thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87508

[shadow_archmagi]

How about psychic warrior 10+swordsage 1/swashbuckler3/???6

Result is that you add STR, DEX (swordsage 1 assumes you take the shadow blade feat), AND INT (thats the swashbuckler 3 part) to your attack, have a boatload of psionics to buff yourself with, and still six levels to tack on whatever other cool stuff pops into your head.

Yeah.

[Fuzzy_Juan]

heh, though of VoP monk, then just said no...would be humorus to combine it with druid/master of many forms though.

I wish I knew what the rest of the players were building, but alas I do not...so I need to be prepared for anything, or to be self sufficient no matter what happens (which lends itself more to cleric and arcane batman style play but I play casters alot).

Wanted to mix it up a bit.

[Jack_Simth]

Druid//Ninja; Neutral-good.

Druid gives Wildshape (after 5th level) making basically every stat besides Con and Wis irrelevant, and Full Casting.

Ninja gives Wis to AC, Wisdom-powered nifties, Sudden Strike, a good Reflex save (for Monk-perfect saves all around), an improved skill list, and some other nifties.

For combat, wildshape into something with Pounce, stay that way most the day. In battle, take a Swift action to use a Ki point to turn invisible, then Pounce on your opponent for sudden strike damage on each of 4+ attacks. Use long-running Druidic buffs (Barkskin, Greater Magic Fang) for other stuff.

For stealth, Wildshape into something as small as you can reasonably manage that's appropriate to the area (with luck, even if you're spotted, nobody will take note) - and make sure you took ranks in Hide and Move Silently.

You have Trapfinding and Search/Disable device as class skills. Take a bit of Int, and you can have Search, Disable Device, Hide, Move Silently, Spot, and Listen all maxed out - especially if you take Nymph's Kiss as a 1st level feat for the extra skill points.

Full casting, for a Druid, includes healing spells as well. Which is, to say, with this skeleton build, you can take basically any role in the party (or all of them).

A reserve feat or two would not be out of place - Summon Elemental, Dimensional Jaunt, and Minor Shapeshift are favorites of mine (and a Druid can qualify for all three).

Vow of Poverty simplifies the build, in that you don't need to worry about equipment - and it doesn't hurt you too much, as you've got Full Spellcasting to cover the important bits that the Vow of Poverty doesn't give you. Do make sure to check with your DM to make sure the cost "-" Divine Focus for a Druid is OK within the Vow.

[shadow_archmagi]

As another alternative, sorcerer/artificer.

The CHA symmetry is nice.

The artificer half provides boatloads of metamagic feats which will help the sorcerer half. (note that there is a sorcerer variant that repeals the ban on spontaneous meta magic, and all you lose is your familiar)

The sorcerer half can be used for everyday, commonplace things like setting orcs on fire, while the artificer half can prepare a nice Scroll of That Spell You're Going To Maybe Use Once If It Comes Up But Damn It'll Be Handy When It Does Come Up, It Just Won't Happen Enough To Justify Taking It As A Normal Spell.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

There was a thread within the last couple days that was nothing but the most powerful Gestalt builds. The ones I remember were pretty darn good, and not all were full-casters. One I've been constantly working on-Barbarian 1/Swordsage 4/Warshaper 5/Bloodclaw Master 5/any full BAB class 5//Druid 20.

[monty]

Or just Druid-20. Forget gestalt.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Or just Druid-20. Forget gestalt.

Surprisingly, in a Gestalt game, Druid isn't as horrible. Everyone can do everything, so the fact that you can too doesn't help. The Animal Companion and summons are weaker by comparison with the PCs, and there's already at least 2 buffers, so the buffs aren't horrible. The only problem is Wildshape.

[Knaight]

Warlock(or sorcerer)/Crusader.

[Fuzzy_Juan]

I should really try and get a copy of ToB...

Hmm...for the paladin idea...is there any class that has a feature like divine grace that stacks with the palladin ability?

[dspeyer]

Reading through BoED for inspiration (and assuming level 10)....

How about a ranger 10 // cleric 4 / lion of talisid 6? You'll need the spontaneous summoner feat from complete divine at level 3 to meet prereqs. It gets you full cleric casting, best BAB and all saves, d8 hit dice, 6+int skills and cool special abilities. As for melee, righteous might, twf and lion's pounce make a nice combination, and if they don't work, you can turn into a bear (rhino, eagle, shark...). For extra exaltedness, use a quarterstaff as your primary weapon (handy because it switches from two weapons to a two-handed weapon at will) and take Vow of Poverty.

For a more RPfull option, consider beguiler // monk / apostle of peace. Nothing in the Vow of Peace forbids you to confuse an invading army about where their enemy is so that they blunt their swords on rocks. Grab a few Arcane Disciples for breadth and do everything to boost your save dcs (VoN's +4 helps a lot). Monk should give you the defensive abilities needed to stay alive (and the subdual melee capability for a worst-case scenario). Expect arguments with your DM over the meaning of "lawful".

[Douglas]

I should really try and get a copy of ToB...

Hmm...for the paladin idea...is there any class that has a feature like divine grace that stacks with the palladin ability?

Behold the X Stat to Y Bonus compilation. Sadly, quite a few of the charisma-to-saves ones are named Divine Grace and many DMs may rule that the duplication of name makes them not stack. There are a few that are not named Divine Grace, but the name of the ability is not noted in this list. You'll have to look them up to check, but at least it's got all the book and page numbers you'll need.